Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1523825
12 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2024 where we saw PCB designers leaving the field, and managers started looking at engineers to be the jack of all trades for us. Barry Matties: John, help me understand that connection between firmware development and PCB design. Sure. Oen, the engineers will do the sche- matic all the way to complete development. ey're also required to bring the board up and develop the firmware that will bring that board up, so they'll work on both the hardware and the soware or firmware side. It's my gut feel- ing that the EEs are spread pretty thin now. As a design instructor, I'm getting more calls from companies saying, "Just give us a warm body who knows PCB design—and that warm part is optional." I don't know if mechatronics will fully take off. It would be nice for the EEs if it did. In my college course, I have an entire section that deals with mechanical development. Mostly, I work with the integration of PCB design into the mechanical side, and then we discuss the tools that are available to do that. We talk about Altium Connector, and the ECAD vs. MCAD side of things. It's just now taking off. I recom- mend to my students they should be cross- disciplined. Don't just focus on PCB design, but if you know mechanical design, firmware, or anything else like it, that's a definite plus for companies today. Nolan Johnson: John, along that line, is there much interest or momentum for mechani- cal engineering students to be working with physical layout? ere is, even to the point where some of the mechanical soware now has PCB capabili- ties. We're seeing that more oen now. But I would describe it as a crapshoot at this point. Matties: On an income basis, maybe as a per- centage, what sort of elevated income would I have by being well educated in both disci- plines, electrical and mechanical? Well, I know you don't get the MCAD salary (laughs), but there has to be an increase in salary. I would say that it would be at least a 20–25% bump. It's definitely something that people should consider. is is a new area. Mechatronics is a real catchphrase right now in our industry and the direction we're head- ing. We should consider how we handle this in academia because it's a trend that will stick around. From the beginning, there's been such a close relationship between the ECAD and MCAD sides. You could say that the PCB design starts on the MCAD side by making sure that the board, its shape, and everything else will fit into the enclosure, and then that's passed over to ECAD. MCAD is where it starts. Matties: That function will now be the role of one person who brings many benefits to the OEM. What other benefits are we likely to see? e main benefit is a streamlining of the entire PCB design process. You won't just throw it over the wall. An engineer with mechatronics knowledge can look at the design with a set of fresh eyes. ey know what they're doing, and John Watson